AUSTIN ADVOCATE

Communities In Crisis
From the "Survey of Hunger and Homelessness In America" conducted by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness

Shamefully, hunger and homelessness are status quo in America today. It is common to see people sleeping on street vents, lined up at a community kitchen, or asking for change on the sidewalk.

However, much remains hidden or unknown. It is true that these problems have existed for decades, but they seem to be getting worse right now. Is that the case all over the country and in all types of communities? If so, why? How can we reverse this trend? There are charities and volunteers dedicated to helping, but can—and should—they do it alone? Government programs help many, but the U.S. and states are cutting billions of dollars from these programs. How is this affecting our communities and low income Americans?

The National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness created the 2004 Survey of Hunger and Homelessness in America to get the answers to these questions straight from the people addressing these issues on the front lines every day: emergency food and shelter providers. We hope that the results compiled here will bring light to these issues and inspire our elected officials to take action to address hunger and homelessness.

Student volunteers, interns and staff with the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness surveyed 900 emergency food and shelter providers in urban, rural, and suburban areas in 32 states and 426 cities and towns. These agencies, run by nearly 45,000 volunteers and 26,000 staff, served 1.3 million clients in the month prior to completing the survey.

We found that many communities are in crisis. Hunger and homelessness are increasing, but government resources are decreasing. Specifically, we found that the number of people requesting emergency food and shelter is increasing in every state surveyed, and in a wide range of urban areas, rural areas, and small to mid-sized towns. However, funding for these programs is inadequate and on the decline, most frequently so from government sources. Many agencies are cutting programs and turning away requests for help due to a lack of resources.

The main findings are as follows:

The number of people requesting emergency food at agencies is increasing.
• 74% of agencies surveyed reported an increase in requests for food assistance over the past year; on average, surveyed agencies reported a 28% increase in requests.

The number of people requesting emergency shelter at agencies is increasing.
• 65% of agencies surveyed reported an increase in requests for shelter over the past year; on average, surveyed agencies reported a 27% increase in requests.

Agencies reported that more people are experiencing hunger and homelessness in their communities than assistance is available.
• 24% of emergency food providers surveyed reported that they turned away requests for food this past year, primarily due to a lack of resources.
• 77% of emergency shelter providers surveyed reported that they turned away requests for shelter this past year, primarily due to a lack of resources.

Many agencies reported funding cuts over the past year; cuts from government sources were most frequent.
• 33% of agencies reported reduced income over the past year; 43% of agencies saw funding cuts from the state government and 35% from the federal government.

A significant percent of agencies that turned away requests for assistance reported a decrease in overall income in the past year.
• 39% of emergency food providers and 43% of emergency shelter providers that reported turning away requests for assistance also reported reduced income this past year.

America has an impressive and dedicated network of emergency food and shelter providers and a strong tradition of philanthropy and volunteerism that supports these agencies. However, the survey results clearly show that communities need help to keep up. Recent increases in people experiencing hunger and homelessness are overwhelming agencies, and cuts in government funding are exacerbating the situation.

The United States is the wealthiest country in the world; our government has access to unparalleled resources that it should put to use to address the community crises of hunger and homelessness. The trend of reduced federal and state spending for social programs is out of sync with reality and impeding communities’ ability to alleviate hunger and homelessness. In consultation with agencies and people experiencing hunger and homelessness, government must expand resources to shelters, affordable housing programs, food assistance programs, and other social services that directly serve the lowest income Americans.

National Student Campaing Against Hunger and Homelessness
http://www.studentsagainsthunger.org/index.html

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Is Poverty a Disease?
By Penney Hunt

I see a Lexus waiting for the light to change. The driver looks at me and I can see the repulsion on her face as she sees my sign. My sign says “So broke, I’d cry, but can’t afford the tears.” I look at her and smile, her face twists into this hideous mask, morphing into a demonic snarl. I get a feeling of warmth start inside me. Here I am, with hardly a dollar and I’ve found something I’d lost a few months back. I’d lost the inner feeling of hope and had given up. I started to think that I needed to break my current cycle. Why was my mere sight enough to make this stranger feel such hate? Was I drunk? Dirty? Ugly? No… I suffer from a disease called poverty…being poor…a crime in today’s society of materialistic wealth.

Is poverty a disease? Is it contagious? Does it have a prognosis? Does it have a diagnosis? Do we have long term care for this disease?

I look at my trusty Webster’s and find “an unhealthy condition of mind and body.” The lack of currency in my pocket makes me qualify for this ailment. Being poor is definitely an unhealthy condition of mind and body.

Is poverty contagious? Are we shunned by the rest of society? We are shunned as if we had leprosy. I can’t even find a job as a waitress once the employer looks at my application and sees I’ve been out of work for 4 years. I’ve even applied to work bussing tables and as a dishwasher. It makes me wonder if these employers thought I could give them a disease or cause an epidemic by merely touching their dishes.

Is there long term treatment in today’s society for poverty? I would have to answer this question also with a yes. After being homeless for two years I found myself arrested and have served my 24 months at state jail. Jail is often how society deals with the poor. Wouldn’t it be much cheaper to have programs to help the poor help themselves? Instead were given long jail sentences and then released without a penny in our pockets. Being female makes it even harder to be offered shelter.

Diagnosis? That’s an easy one to identify. The poor are easy to spot. Most of us are carrying our home in a backpack. Society can spot us easily as we struggle with our worldly possessions on our back. We often have our homes on our backs resembling turtles. We even have slowed down our gait. This comes from walking miles each day carrying our belongings. We often are seen using public transportation. I’ve even have been turned down by a taxi once they realized I was homeless. Was the cabby scared I’d rob her or scared I had something contagious? I’ll never know the answer since she refused to give me a ride and threatened to have me arrested if I didn’t vacate her cab. We carry a lot of negative stigma that comes with our homelessness. It’s hard to keep any self-pride when you’re forced to deal with the negative responses we get from regular citizens.

I think poverty is a disease. Anyone who’s been homeless can attest to how hard it is to cure. Poverty has been a disability for me. In 2000, I found myself on unemployment and sleeping in the bushes. How do you compete in today’s job market without a phone? That’s not even considering how hard it is to keep clean clothes to look for a job. In 1999, I made $38,000 as an electrician. After serving 90 days, I found myself homeless and unhireable. I lost everything during my 90 days of punishment. I had nothing but the clothes on my back and blisters on my feet. It can happen to anyone. Who could survive 90 days of no car payments, storage lockers, pawnshop loans or no income?

What does one do when you have nothing? I found myself with nothing and took the easiest way out. I made a mistake and started selling drugs. It was easy money until I was arrested.

After serving 24 months, I once again still find myself disabled with poverty. I’ve vowed not to sell drugs. I’ve put out 100’s of applications. I’ve even applied for rehabilitation. It’s been 3 months of job search. As a drug offender I don’t even qualify for food stamps or public housing. I have a medical card, but still need money for prescriptions and visits.

Now, I’ve heard that Capitol Metro won’t allow A.R.C.H. to give disability papers for longer than 6 months. What is someone who’s homeless and penniless to do? Steal, sell drugs, prostitute or panhandle? Humans have a need for survival. I just read over 15 women died on the streets last year. They lost their battle with surviving the streets of Austin.

Being almost 50, having multiple chronic ailments I find myself with odds that are only getting worse as the years go by. There is a need for help for the homeless. I’d much rather have a hand up and get employment. But I find myself with a cardboard sign hoping for the generosity of strangers. Help finding a permanent job is hard to find. Until then…poverty is a disability and a disease. Maybe I should hold a sign asking for a spare PC, too. I know someone who could use one to write short stories and won’t even charge the $10 Goodwill asks for the donation. The poor have dreams of breaking the cycle of poverty.

I must be human. I have empathy for the other brothers and sisters of the streets of Austin. We need help so we can help ourselves. We need a job search place to help those with special needs. I’ve read that I’m considered chronically homeless. How quick time has flown by when you spend so much time just meeting your basic needs.

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STREET PORTRAITS: ALFRED
By David Weems

I met Alfred on the second day of my three-month stay at the Salvation Army. A tall, regal-looking black man with gentle eyes and a soft voice, he hailed from Detroit, Michigan. Like myself, he was in a new and alien environment and tended to avoid eye contact. However, after a few days, we began to strike up conversation. People tend to do that if they’re forced to share a single cigarette.

Alfred’s father had worked at the Chevrolet plant in Flint for over 30 years. As Flint began to fall apart, Alfred headed to California and settled outside of Hollywood. He started his own recycling business, and to his amazement it became very successful, thanks in part to some investors he considered friends. Alfred got married and had two kids. He did so well that he was able to convince his parents to move out to California to be near him.

Things went well for several years and Alfred got a taste of the good life. Then the cracks began to appear. It turned out his investor “friends” were swindling him out of thousands of dollars. The money was no longer there. He and his wife began to fight and eventually separated. And then the unthinkable happened.

Alfred went to his parents’ apartment one afternoon to find his mother bleeding to death, stabbed by his alcoholic father after an argument. She died in his arms. He’d lost his job, his wife, his mother and now, any hope.

He wound up in Austin, hearing that there were jobs here. Three months proved him wrong and he wound up at Sally’s.

Here is the amazing part of the story. Once we became friends, Alfred told me, “Don’t worry: As long as I am here, nothing bad will happen to you.” (He could tell how frightened I was.) He snuck in midnight snacks, sat up in his bunk at 3 a.m. telling me how we’d both get out of this mess. I never detected a trace of self-pity. There was no boasting or braggadocio, no grandiose schemes. Just determination.

Soon, I found a job and acquired a small apartment, allowing me to leave Sally’s. I promised Alfred we’d keep in touch and invited him to see my place. He came by one afternoon and we talked and talked until I realized he’d violated his curfew. If you violate curfew at Sally’s, you’re “NFL” (no further lodging) for 30 days. So we stayed up and talked the night away, both of us knowing he couldn’t return to Sally’s.

The next day he went to retrieve his belongings and found that his sister had wired him money for a bus trip back to Detroit. He stopped by that evening for one more chat and the promise that we’d see each other again. Of course, we never did.

In retrospect, I realize how this stranger, whose past was far more painful than mine, acted as a guardian angel. He never succumbed to despair. He kept a wry sense of humor and a humane disposition toward his fellow man. He helped me through one of the worst times in my life. He carried himself with consummate dignity. He was humble and compassionate, a very intelligent man who’d been dealt tragic blows. And yet he made it his mission to help me. And he was a Homeless Person.

God bless you Alfred, wherever you are.

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Dancing for Peace...Again
By Kevin Anthony Cavalli

I’m looking into your eyes more than comfortable, because I’m trying to overcome the demon, “Shame,” which caused me to be too shy to look, “Strangers,” in the eyes for too much of my adult life. I’m smiling, because I want to look more approachable if someone needs (or wants) to help me.

I’m looking deep into your eyes, because I want you to look deep into my eyes, because I’d like to invite you to use your eyes to brighten the pathways from my eyes to my heart, and brighten my heart itself to make you, and God, feel more welcome while visiting with me at this time, and to welcome you to find any darkness inside me and cover over it with light, and I invite you to see if I’m telling you the truth.

Yes, I welcome you and God (or whatever name you call Him/Her/It/etc.) to brighten me with your loving presence. I’m smiling, because I’m looking at you as if you are God. I’m looking deep into your eyes to look for the good in you. I’m looking deep into your eyes to see the God in you. I’m looking deep into your eyes, because you and God are healing me, at this time. I’m looking deep into your eyes like a sunflower would look at the sun. I’m admiring you as if you are God.

Am I hypnotizing you, or am I enlightening you? That question is for you to discuss with your circle. If I accept a gift from you it’s only because, I’m not in your circle yet (heavy emphasis on the word, “YET”) If I don’t accept a gift from you, it’s because I’m in a safe enough circle already, and I want to enlighten all my beautiful sisters and brothers with this message.

You may think that I’m homeless, but my home is the same place as God’s home, it’s my Heart, and you and God have just helped me clean my home; thanks, and now I’m looking into your eyes and inviting you to come home with me. I pray that you’ll be able to invite me into your home some day, and that we’ll be able to look each other in the eyes and say “I Love You” and really mean it, 100%.

It may not be comfortable for you to stand your ground and hold out your hand half way to me…yet, and I’ll admit that I may not be prepared to meet you half way yet…yet!

I’m looking into your eyes and saying, “I Love you.” And whether you mean it or not it would make us both feel better if you smiled and said it back to me. That’s all I want from you, but if you’re not comfortable with that, than just a hello, or a little wave with some eye contact would be good, just to let me know that you recognize me as a human being. It would really show me that you love me if you came and asked me if you could have a hug from me. But, I must warn you that I’m a stranger, and I might have head to toe lice, and smell very offensive, or have some other type of “cooty” that may not jump off of you as fast as they jumped on, so if you hug me, I’ll know that you really must care, and that would warm, or energize, me. But if hugging me is not comfortable for you, just pray for me, and go home and hug your neighbor (or someone else in your circle)

If you think that giving me money, may only lead me astray, then say a prayer and go happily, and I thank you, but if you want to do more, then I’ll just take a hamburger, they are about the healthiest thing that I eat, and they were Jerry’s favorite - thank you Jerry.
I pray that I am happy, healthy, comfortable, relaxed, calm, strong, protected, and safe, so that I may spread happiness to others, without being a burden on anyone. I pray that I am one with God, that I attach myself on God’s clothes line; always ready for him to put me to work. “People get ready… there’s a train a coming” – is that you… Uncle Bob?

This was written in simple English so that it can simply be translated to every language of the world. If I’m the only one who believes that he can turn this world into a heavenly one, then I’ll just have to just do it myself. Can it be done? Yes. I can do it. I can do it. I CAN. Am I hypnotizing myself? Fortunately, I’m not alone.

I’m just a messenger (formally known as a “Manic Depressive”) I hope that I help everyone with this message. Ya know? I think that “Messages” are not only made to be delivered, but made to be delivered at the correct time. I decided that, NOW, is the time for this message, thank you for letting me serve you.
This message of hope is for you to enjoy. Thanks for giving us your time. Come home soon.

Sincerely,
Kevin Anthony Cavalli

P.S. As for the rest of you, “Messengers:” Yes, it’s true, you are gifted, the key is to stay as calm, quiet, and as peaceful as you can; and don’t get too serious through your highs and lows. Make sure everyone around you is comfortable with your ideas, and actions. We need someone to “Mirror” us. And we, the people, need to hear what you have to say… just stay cool. If you start losing sleep; then, that’s the first sign that you are getting over anxious. Wait until you have a strong spiritual circle before you get to your “High” state again. Stay calm, wait for the rest of us to catch up to you. Do something else; dance, sing, etc.

If this is now the “Sunrise” of the Age of Aquarius, then let this message be the first ray of light that helps you make it through the surface to see the new “Sun.”

You are a marathon runner holding a baton, I have a bowl of water filled to the rim and I was told that every drop is to stay in the bowl. I’m asking you to drop your baton and help me hold this bowl steady, together; we’ll ask everyone to help hold it steady as we move it around the globe.

That picture has helped me control this mania; staying calm and getting a good night’s sleep is my #1 goal. I’ve actually been able to go to work, and last night, I slept all night, without waking once.

God, thank you for granting me the serenity to change the things that I can, to accept the things that I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.

Hey, whoever, please print this like it is; with all the mistakes and commas, we are human, not perfect… YET!

This is the manifestation of my entire life’s work, and I’m giving it to you, and I’m sorry that I/we had to work so hard. This message shall have an impact in a positive direction. Please publish it in your “Lower Class” newspapers only; it’s where our “Foundation” lives. Peace, Love, and Happiness to All!!!!!!!!!!

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Guerra En Las Calles
War in the Streets

Niño de ricos
El pobre trabajador
Dolar su droga

Baby of the rich
The poor worker
Dollar is his drug

La vida simple
Viviendo con amistad
No es tan simple

The simple life
Living in friendship
Is not so simple

Capitalísmo
Igaul al socialísmo
Abusa Amor

Capitalism
Same as socialism
Abuses love

Se va compasión
Entra grosería
Lujo - o - muerta

Compassion leaves
Grossness enters
Luxury or death

Guerra en calle
Calles de los ladrones
Cultura Mala

War in the street
Streets owned by thieves
Culture is sick

Seramos pobre
Pero no sus esclaves
Ya Basta Guerra!

We may be poor
But we are not your slaves
End War Now!

-- Tumen Soliz

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LEARN HER WAYS

Her rhythms, cadences, lilts, hiccups
Translate as earthquakes, hurricanes, tidak waves
We live only via her kind grace
Our numbers swell like balloons
Until AIDS, avian flu, epidemics, pandemics
return like those Great Plagues to decimate-
smallpox, typhus, common as colds
same waves with new names-
Kali, Shakti, Ganesh, Goddess-
We need to learn her ways...

Thom the World Poet

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PEOPLE IN THE RAIN

People in the rain
I see the pain in your eyes
Of yesterday’s sorrows, again
You’ve got to fly so you can fall
You’ve got to die so you can live
That’s life
There’s only only one way
And that’s to make it.

There’s a life you want to start
With the love that’s in your heart
But the pain from yesterday keeps you from makin’ it
With a little help from a friend
A new tomorrow’s around the bend
And this new season is just breakin’
He gave us all a reason
He gave us all a push
To forget the hollow mountains of yesterday
And let life touch the love that’s in your heart.

© 1992 Rane Henderson

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